Bible: Old Testament: English Standard Version

The book of Genesis describes the creation of the world and the early stages of God’s relationship with human beings. Genesis is structured in two main parts: Chapters 1-11, which deal with the primeval history of the human race, and Chapters 12-50, which focus on God’s relationship with Abraham and his family, and the establishment of nations. The chronology of Chapters 12-50 takes place mostly in the early centuries of the second millennium BCE.

The book of Genesis begins with an account of creation. Chapter 1 narrates a broad view of God creating the cosmos, including the Earth and all its creatures, with the creation of humanity as the summit of the process. Chapter 2 then offers a more detailed scene of humanity’s creation, and the placement of the first two humans, Adam and Eve, into the Garden of Eden, where they share life together in the presence of God. The following scene, in Chapter 3, narrates Adam and Eve’s temptation by the serpent, their fall into sin by disobeying God’s command not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and their expulsion from the garden, which represents a rupture in their relationship with God.